Anyone else have a goldfish pond in the backyard?

I always buy some cheap feeder goldfish and they usually get pretty big. Mine were over a year old. The algae was so bad I couldn't see them anymore. They seemed happy, but in the past I had a batch die cause the oxygen depleted when it got so bad (algae choked them out, was in their gills and eyes) in the middle of summer.

I decided a cleaning would be in order before summer got here.

Sunday I spent 2 hours down there scrubbing and changing the water out. I put the conditioner in and let it sit an hour. Bottle did not mention time to let it sit...we always did an hour with the fish in the bowl.

Well now 2 days later my 4"-6" gold fish are dead. I was reading that changing out the water is a bad idea...getting rid of the bacteria and such. I had tried algae killers, barley straw bags, but nothing could stop the algae. So I thought starting over would be the answer. Nope!

https://www.thespruce.com/can-massive-water-changes-kill-fish-1381885

I'm sure Ammonia levels were high...bubbles started to form on top.

Seems this always happens each batch I buy over the year....they get big, then something screws up and I loose all of them in 24 hours. Frustrating even though it's like a $1 worth of fish to start with.

Do some research on the nitrogen cycle and using plants for bio-filtration . Mechanical filtration gets the solids out and helps convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate but it doesn't take the nitrates (algae food) out .

I'm pretty sure your goldfish died from the shock of being put in "clean" water . Do smaller water changes on a regular basis . I dip a five gallon bucket every day and use the water on my plants . Every month I'll drain a couple hundred gallons (1900 gallon pond) into the surrounding flower beds .

Don't over-feed . Carp always look hungry . The more you feed , the more they poop .

I don't trust all the additives . Some can deplete the oxygen levels in the pond to dangerous levels . My pond "turned over" after using a certain product and I lost an entire school of koi .

Get some test strips for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate .

Add a plecostomus or two to your pond. Great algae eaters. But they die during winter.

I've got 150 gallon deal.

Has 4 big goldfish and 4 bullhead that I scooped up from a local pond when they were so small I could not tell what they were. They're about five inches now two years later.

Regular small water changes is the key. My little tank is pretty algae filled right now I'm struggling to keep up with it but it does not bother the fish.

And you have to keep the water moving do you have a fountain or waterfall hooked up to a pump with a filter?

How big is your pond?

I use lily pads and elephant ears as my filtration. The lily pads cut down on the sun light and the elephant ears devour the nitrates.

Simple pump from Harbor Freight.....with waterfall. No filters.

Pond is maybe 50 gallons? It was the kit from Lowes'

I used to have lily pads in there, but they died off few winters back. It had gotten so big....root wad was like 20 lbs.

I bet so.....after reading that article it made sense. Got them stressed and they produced ammonia (be my guess).

You definitely have to cull the plants during the warm season- otherwise they will overtake the pond. Each fall I will remove about 80% of the lily pad root. Elephant ears have to be trimmed at least twice a month all summer.

For tropical fish in an aquarium, the worst thing you can do is a large change out with tap water. The chlorine levels from the tap will kill everything in your tank. There are two ways you can avoid this.

1) Only change out about 10% of the total volume at a time.
2) Fill a bucket and let it sit for about 12-24 hours to allow chlorine to evaporate.

Also, you will need a pump of some sort to remove water occasionally. Goldfish poop a lot, and make the water very messy. You'd have to have an awful lot of plants to deal with that amount build up. Once a week, you should siphon some out and water your plants with it. Then refill with water that you have had sitting out.

What do you plant the ears in?

Sounds like you might have the same kit I got have BBT.

If yours is peanut shaped it might be the 50 gal. But most likely its same as mine and those are 150 gal.

For sure you need a filter not just a pump. Check Amazon. I will post a pic of mine when I get home. I want to add a waterfall to mine. Tried plants last year (bamboo and some floating plant I ordered online) they did so-so but died when it got cold. Never really took off Like I wanted them too.

You may also want to add a uv light to the circulation system. Supposed to cut down on algae growth

http://www.skippysstuff.com/aditvs.htm

Check this guys site out. Great advice